The Jim Carrey Outrageous Comedy That’s Criminally Underrated

Me, Myself and Irene centers on Jim Carrey’s Charlie Baileygates and his ongoing mental health issues. After years of everybody close to him taking advantage of his kindness, Charlie has a psychotic break, which is diagnosed as “advanced delusionary schizophrenia with involuntary narcissistic rage.” Though Jim Carrey has had to go on record explaining that the illness depicted in this movie doesn’t faithfully portray the classic traits of real-life schizophrenia, I need to remind you that I already told you that this movie is incredibly offensive.

I also said that I think that this Jim Carrey movie is well-thought-out, and I still believe that. What I really mean is that within the context of this fake and incredibly exaggerated mental illness, the storytelling is solid.

Charlie’s character in Me, Myself and Irene develops an antagonistic alter-ego named Hank Evans, which is more in line with Dissociative Identity Disorder. After a number of episodes in which Hank comes out and violently confronts those who have wronged Charlie, his commanding officer suggests that he takes a vacation once he finishes escorting a hit-and-run suspect named Irene (Renée Zellweger) from Rhode Island to Massena, New York, where the accident was alleged to have taken place. Charlie learns that Irene was set up by her criminal ex-boyfriend, Dickie (Daniel Greene), and that the hit-and-run incident was fabricated to keep her quiet about his illicit activities.

Jim Carrey’s Charlie is accommodating and charming in Me, Myself and Irene, but everything changes when he loses his medication and Hank’s personality manifests at the worst possible moments. Confirming that Irene is an innocent victim caught in the middle of an elaborate scheme, Charlie does everything he can to ensure her safety, and Hank does all of the dirty work because he has absolutely no qualms about throwing hands whenever Charlie is compromised or antagonized.

The reason Me, Myself and Irene works so well is that Jim Carrey 100 percent commits to the bit. His ability to switch from Charlie to Hank at the drop of a hat, and even fight himself when both personalities are at odds with one another, is not only convincing, but it’s not overdone. Gag-based comedy is hard to pull off because filmmakers often lean gratuitously into the gag without backing it up with the storytelling, but every single comedic confrontation in Me, Myself and Irene is entirely situational and adds to the story instead of detracting from it.

An early example of Jim Carrey’s ability to play two characters living in one body in Me, Myself and Irene can be found in a first-act scene set in a supermarket. When a woman with a full cart cuts Charlie in line, his face switches from a smile to a scowl before grabbing the cashier’s microphone and announcing the embarrassing objects in the woman’s cart over the intercom for the entire store to hear. Throughout the film, Jim Carrey jumps back and forth between both personalities, and at a pace that suggests that he spent plenty of time practicing this personality pivot when the cameras weren’t rolling.

GFR SCORE

Me, Myself and Irene is mean-spirited and perverse, but also one of Jim Carrey’s best comedies. If you’re okay with inappropriate humor that was even considered to be problematic back in the year 2000 when it was released, then you’re in for a treat. You can currently watch this title through an active Starz subscription, or purchase it on-demand through Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Google Play, and YouTube, to name a few.